Owens had to drop the belt so that the WWE could book the Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar match at the WrestleMania in the main event.
Owens will now take on Chris Jericho for the WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania instead. The storyline for this marquee match has been building for the last 12 months. In fact, Jericho and Owens were the most entertaining duo on Monday nights until, of course, Owens turned on Jericho a few weeks back.
It was at the Festival of Friendship on the 13th February 2017 edition of Raw that Owens brutalised Jericho and sent him to the hospital.
At Fastlane, as the bell was about to ring to indicate the start of the match between Owens and Goldberg, Jericho’s entry music blared over the speakers, distracting Owens. This gave Goldberg the opportunity to take advantage and subsequently beat his opponent in 30 seconds flat.
On the March 6 episode of Raw, it was confirmed that Owens will take on Jericho at the WrestleMania 33. However, as per the rumours, it is being indicated that due to Jericho’s willingness to put younger talents over, he will be dropping the US title belt to Owens in their bout.
On another note, Jericho has also announced his plans for May when he will begin his tour with his band, Fozzy. This also indicates that even though he will be around in April on WWE programming, he will certainly be taking a hiatus after that. This gives all the more reason for him to drop the belt at WrestleMania.
All in all, it is expected that KO will win the US title come April 2nd in Orlando, Florida.
Owens will take on Jericho at the Showcase of the Immortals at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida in three weeks time. The build-up to the match continues with weekly promos and appearances, and we might see some further interesting developments to this storyline in the coming weeks.
Yes, it is an obvious step down for Owens from being the Universal Champion to being the United States Champion.
Nonetheless, a WWE title is still a WWE title and Owens will have the opportunity of elevating the belt over the coming months. And talking about the match, it looks set to be a great bout featuring two of the best in-ring workers in the company!
